Amelia Turns Five.

Amelia turns five! Wow, that feels so strange. It doesn't even seem possible that I actually have a five year old. It was only a moment ago that I was sitting there full of love, full of dreams as I waited for my baby to come into a world, and now in a blink of an eye she is five. FIVE! My little girl turning five feels like a such a big milestone, the last step of being a baby. Saying goodbye to those baby years of watching her grow, watching her become independent, develop and flourish in everything that she does.

Our little princess woke up and we opened lots of presents and cards from all our family and friends. A big thank you to everyone who made an effort to send her something and get her gifts, we really do appreciate it. Our daughter is pretty lucky to have so many friends and family who love her as much as we do. Even though it's her birthday she had to go to school. Amelia did try and use the 'birthday card' to get a day off school but it didn't work! However she had the best day at school, she was allowed to wear her birthday badges and everyone sang her happy birthday.

As it was her birthday we told her she could have anything she wanted for dinner. Her choice? An old McDonalds!!! We even gave her a choice to go out for a birthday meal, but no the birthday girl wanted a McDonalds. So while we stayed on plan for our dinner we did go and get her a happy meal and she was ecstatic when she got a Secret Life of Pets toy! We did have a little surprise planned for her after dinner.

A cake! As it was such a special birthday we decided to get a cake made for her and because we couldn't decided on a theme we went for a unicorn and mermaid theme. We had lots of visitors come over to see the birthday girl and so it only seemed fair to offer a slice of cake too. We waited for all our guests to arrive before lighting the candles and singing her happy birthday. When we came into the room with her unicorn and mermaid theme cake she was ecstatic. We ordered this from The Little Button Bakery a week or so before her birthday. It was a chocolate and hazelnut cake with white chocolate ganache. Honestly I couldn't even tell you how calorific this slice of cake was, but it was worth every single one of those calories.

We couldn't wait to carry on the celebrations at the weekend at Banham Zoo and like every year we like to involve as much family as we can so we can turn birthday celebrations into one big family adventure. So most of the grandparents tagged along as did my sister, brother-in-law and their little tribe. Our day started with a 5AM wake up call for us as we had one excited little girly.

This year the idea of going to Africa Alive came up, however our daughter really wanted to see Giraffes, Penguins and Flamingos so Banham was the better choice and it's only an hour away from us so it was pretty convenient. We have been to Banham zoo a few times, so we knew that our day was going to be full of adventures and this time we wanted to make sure that we went to see some of the shows. We arrived at the Banham around half ten, followed by some grandparents and the last car came in around eleven making plenty of time for adventures.

As soon as we all paid our admissions, stamped our hands we all headed over Eureka! It was such a scorching day that we thought that we would go into this display first as it can get pretty hot in there. It is such a great display and one that all visitors should go and spend some time in and don't forget to keep an eye out for the sloth, he may be hiding somewhere you least expect. After we went around the display a couple of times we then headed outside for some fresh air and we were met with this loud howling noise. It was one of the new enclosures at Banham 'Casa De Howler' full of howler monkeys and wow are they loud. We all got the opportunity to stand under the monkeys whilst the were howling at one another, it was such an experience.

The 'Amazing Animals!' presentation takes place throughout the year, where you get the opportunity to see the animals live on stage as they give you a glimpse into the world of some of the most incredible creatures. The show lasts for 30 minutes or so giving you plenty of opportunity to see so many different animals such as serveral, ring tailed lemurs, European genet, Swainson’s lorikeets, monk parakeets, kookaburra, rats, barn owl and blue & gold macaws. It’s an absolute ‘must do’ on a day out at Banham Zoo. It was a scorcher of a day at Banham this year so we all piled into the presentation and there was AIR CON! Keeping cool for 30 minutes whilst learning about some of these amazing animals was just perfect.

Our daughter's favourite part of the display was the Red-legged Seriema as these birds will often slam the animal against the ground to kill it before ripping it to pieces with their bills, but seeing the Red-legged Seriema do this with a pretend snake made all the girls jump out of their seats and they couldn't believe how powerful the slam was. I must admit, the slam made me jump. After the display we then headed over the Lemur walk and we all couldn't believe how brave these lemurs were this time, we all got so many opportunities to get up close and personal with them. Look at our new friends? He clearly likes a close up, doesn't he?

We had the best weekend celebrating our girl turning five. After our weekend she told me that she feels so lucky to have so much family and many friends that care about her and that have all helped make her birthday special. Isn't she a complete beauty? It does feel strange to think that I have a five year old but I do need to loosen those reins a little and let her explore the world in her own way. Some of the things she does amazes me, and the things she says melts my heart. Our daughter makes us so proud because she is one amazing little human who is always kind considerate and loves with all her heart. I'm just so happy to know that we all made her birthday so special.